Chapter 80 Just a Little Bit More
Yu Sui noticed the shocked look in Xue Mushi's eyes as he looked at her, and said softly, "Say what you want to say."
Xue Mushi reached out and clutched his heart, which was still pounding wildly from the rapid fall. As he calmed himself down, he asked her, "How did you do that?"
In the past, Xue Mushi would not have asked, and Yu Sui would not have answered.
"Two-thirds of the Dragon Slayer Cave is man-made scenery. It's possible to manipulate the five elements energy gathered here to change the terrain. I discovered this by accident," Yu Sui replied. She wasn't lying; that's the principle.
She just didn't say that she changed it through the number of mountains.
This is precisely why Yu Sui was able to thrive in the Dragon Slayer Cave, monitoring everything while also altering the terrain for his own use, giving him a significant advantage.
Outside the Dragon Slayer Cave, she was truly just an "ordinary" first-level sorcerer.
The river was wide and winding, with a surging current. The rushing water washed over his ears. Yu Sui walked a little further into the cliff, away from the noise of the river.
The cave at the bottom of the cliff is very shallow; you only need to walk a few dozen steps to reach the end. Fortunately, it is relatively spacious and dry inside, and you can also take shelter from the rain.
The two hid at the cave entrance. As they walked, Xue Mushi said, "So you know about the teleportation points inside the Dragon Slayer Cave?"
“I know,” Yu Sui replied.
Xue Mushi asked again, "Aren't you afraid that the top-level disciples above will become suspicious if we directly cause half of a terrain corner to collapse this time?"
Although he also really wanted to talk to Yu Sui.
“The terrain inside the Dragon Slayer Cave is ever-changing, with military formations and various magical traps everywhere. Our senior brothers and sisters should know this better than we do, and this is certainly not the first time they've encountered such an unexpected situation.” Yu Sui looked around and moved a rock of similar size to sit down.
Xue Mushi did as instructed, and after listening to Yu Sui's words, he also felt that they made sense. When he was looking for the stone, he remembered the scene he saw when he fell, and hesitantly turned to look back at Yu Sui: "Your senior brother... seems to have fallen down as well."
Yu Sui listened in silence.
Those Class A disciples who fell were unable to use the Nine Streams Technique because their Five Elements Qi was restricted. They reacted very quickly, judged that they would die without hesitation, and did not suffer the pain of falling to their deaths. Instead, they destroyed their own exquisite mechanisms.
As for Mei Liangyu coming to rescue her, this was something Yu Sui hadn't expected.
In her imagination, altering the terrain to crash and causing the other Class A disciples to fall down together would reduce the pressure on Sheng Fei and the others, allowing them to reach the teleportation point as soon as possible.
It's not a big deal if she and Xue Mushi fall down.
Even in a situation where death is inevitable, eliminating two D-level disciples will not affect them.
Yu Sui wouldn't be so naive as to think that her and Xue Mushi's "death" would lead the other senior brothers and sisters to take a detour to search for them at the bottom of the cliff.
Their relationship isn't that good yet.
People like Su Tong and Shi Yuezhen, Xing Chun and Zhong Lishan, are simply naturally friendly. Plus, since they are Mei Liangyu's junior sisters, they have some goodwill on top of their friendliness.
People should have self-awareness and be clear about their position at any time.
So Yu Sui knew she wasn't that important.
But my senior brother actually chased after me.
His wind manipulation technique almost caught up.
Yu Sui's dual consciousness looked at the moving red dot and thought, "My senior brother is really amazing."
“My senior brother is still inside the Dragon Slaying Cave.” Yu Sui raised her eyes slightly. “After we finish talking, I will go find him, and then find Senior Sister Su and the others. Then we will take the nearest teleportation point to the Dragon Head.”
The premise is that they possess a different kind of fire and their identities as destroyers of the world have not been exposed.
With one of the World Destroyers having died just yesterday, Yu Sui and Xue Mushi, both World Destroyers who possess different flames, urgently need to exchange information.
Because before his death, the young Yu Xian broke down and shouted, saying everything.
Who knows what Yu Xian said?
Who can guarantee that the next one to die won't be her or Xue Mushi?
The Dan Kingdom was too far away, and Yu Sui, who was far away in the Taiyi Dragon-Slaying Cave, knew nothing about what was happening there.
Yu Sui didn't even know where Yu Xian had died, which saints had gone there, how many thirteen realms there were, or what the saints in Taiyi would know.
Just as the hot-tempered man said, there are too many saints in Taiyi.
In that moment of empathy, she only felt the devastating power of the Legalist saint's torture.
In the previous two instances of empathy, the deceased destroyers either accepted their fate and spoke little, or discussed matters related to the Strange Fire. This was the first time someone like Yu Xian had experienced such despair and collapse, even betraying information about the Strange Fire in order to survive.
This shows that the destroyers are not a united front.
Yu Sui kept the Strange Fire hidden for eighteen years, never revealing a single bit to Zhongli Que. To her, the threat posed by the Farmer's Breath Soil, Madam Su, and Nangong Ming was far less than the existence of the Strange Fire.
Before her strange fire was exposed, she only had a few enemies.
Once the strange fire is exposed, everyone on the Xuan Gu Continent will be her enemy.
Xue Mushi admired her a little. He thought Yu Sui was very thoughtful. When he first came to the academy, he heard a lot of people say that Princess Qingyang was not smart and was just an ordinary person. Now, he saw that she was indeed the one who had hidden her strange fire for eighteen years.
Yu Sui blinked, her gaze following Xue Mushi who was searching for stones. He bent down, picked up a stone, and sat down opposite Yu Sui.
Xue Mushi looked up in the twilight and gazed into Yu Sui's clear and bright eyes. When they looked at each other, they could see their own reflections in each other's eyes.
Stripped of all pretense, only a quiet curiosity remains.
It's a very strange feeling.
In this vast world, they share the same secret.
A secret that is unknown to others, cannot be told, and causes great suffering.
The setting sun cast its last rays on the mountainside and onto the cave entrance, but unfortunately, it failed to illuminate the two people's position.
"Can you feel it?" Xue Mushi asked first, "The flame deep within my consciousness."
From here, the two naturally began to discuss the strange fire.
Yu Sui shook his head, while observing the flame deep within his consciousness, and whispered, "It can't be sensed normally, but it could be detected yesterday when the fire spirit orb appeared."
Xue Mushi asked, "Fire Spirit Ball?"
“When a world destroyer dies, other people who possess different flames will feel the death.” Yu Sui gestured with his hand. “At that time, a small black dot will appear in the different flame, as the old man who died last said.”
The Fire Spirit Orb currently only appears when a World Destroyer dies, as if to remind them, but it is unknown whether it has any other meaning or function.
Xue Mushi suddenly realized, which relieved him of one of his doubts. He paused for a moment and then said, "From yesterday's conversation, I can guess that you had a strange fire eighteen years ago?"
Yu Sui gave a soft "hmm".
Xue Mushi stared blankly at her. The mere guess was already unbelievable to him, but Yu Sui's personal admission shocked him even more.
How did you do that?
This was even more shocking than the moment when the strange fire suddenly descended upon him.
"How did you manage to keep it a secret when you were a child?" Xue Mushi couldn't help but ask.
Yu Sui smiled slightly and said, "It's fine as long as we don't tell anyone."
Xue Mushi found it unbelievable and felt a sense of awe towards Yu Sui.
If it was eighteen years, then it would have started from when she was three or four, five or six years old, when she knew nothing about the world and was completely ignorant. How could she have kept the secret of the strange fire hidden?
When she was burning and suffering from the strange fire, wouldn't she tell her parents?
"Speaking of which, I'd like to know if the Strange Flame immediately chooses a new World Destroyer after the death of a World Destroyer, or if there's a gap between them?" Yu Sui leaned down, elbows propped on his knees, hands supporting his chin, naturally changing the subject. "Five years ago, in the summer, a World Destroyer died at the Five Elements Water Field of Taiyi Academy. At that time, there was me, an androgynous, talkative, hot-tempered man, a clueless teenager, and a rather gentle old man; the one who died was the old man, so you must have inherited the Strange Flame after him. When were you chosen by the Strange Flame?"
As dusk faded and darkness engulfed the world, everything around became dim in the dark, sunless cliffs of the deep mountains.
The moment Yu Sui ignited the Zhou Tian Fire, Xue Mushi whispered, "I was in the winter of the same year."
It seems that the strange fire won't immediately choose a new unlucky one.
Xue Mushi also couldn't forget that winter five years ago.
Yu Sui asked, "Under what circumstances?"
Xue Mushi lowered his eyelashes and recalled, "It was snowing that day, and the ground was covered in snow. I didn't want to disturb her cultivation, so I waited outside the Astrology Tower..."
Yu Sui interrupted, "Who is she?"
Xue Mushi slowly raised his eyes and said calmly, "My fiancée."
His fiancée, Tu Miaoyi, is the saintess of the Yin-Yang School in Taiyuan.
Each of the six kingdoms has its own powerful school of thought. In Taiyuan Kingdom, the Yin-Yang School holds a significantly higher position than the other schools. The Yin-Yang School serves the royal family and can participate in political reforms. Although it originated from the Yin-Yang School, it belongs to a unique force.
Because of their high status, numerous privileges, and great strength, Taiyuan attracts disciples of the Yin-Yang School from various countries, with many disciples taking the powerful Yin-Yang School members of Taiyuan as their leaders.
Such organizations exist in many of the six kingdoms of the Xuan Gu Continent.
They came from the same family, yet countless people killed each other.
Tu Miaoyi and Xue Mushi grew up together.
The two children knew each other inside and out.
Tu Miaoyi has exceptional talent in cultivation. While others need three to five months to comprehend the Yin-Yang Mantra, she can do it after just one reading. She has never been arrogant or complacent and has a stable temperament.
Fourteen-year-old Tu Miao learns incantations and spells every day, and also follows the high priest and the diviners to learn the arts of "military" and "politics". In the future, she will not only be the saintess of the Yin-Yang School, but also understand the struggles of the court.
Xue Mushi will not study Yin-Yang techniques, but he will go to the National Academy to study, just like Yu Sui. Tu Miaoyi will also teach him the basics of other schools of Nine Schools of Arts.
They see each other almost every day.
Xue Mushi knew from a young age that he was inferior to Tu Miaoyi, and he often heard others laughing at him behind his back, saying openly and secretly that he was not good enough for Tu Miaoyi.
He is indeed inferior.
After hearing this so many times, Xue Mushi only felt that those people were right and that he was indeed unworthy, which made him feel increasingly inferior.
That day, he heard someone say that if Tu Miaoyi were to marry him according to the marriage agreement, she would be very pitiful and looked down upon. Her useless husband would be frequently mentioned, a disgrace that would make Tu Miaoyi unable to hold her head high in Taiyuan, and it would accompany her for the rest of her life.
She clearly deserves better.
Fourteen-year-old Xue Mushi felt a tightness in his chest. He didn't want Tu Miaoyi to have a bad life, and he didn't want those people to use him as a topic of conversation to mock Tu Miaoyi every day.
In the capital of Taiyuan, snow fell heavily. Xue Mushi waited alone in the snow outside the Astrology Tower. The snow was deep, and the banks of the pond were surrounded by thick snow, but the water was still clear and had not frozen. Red fish in the pond slowly swam to and fro among the green lotus leaves.
Xue Mushi looked down, his brows furrowed, looking troubled and sad.
Originally, he came to tell Tu Miaoyi not to marry him and that they should dissolve their engagement. Even though it was an imperial marriage, as long as they both agreed to dissolve it, His Majesty would not stop them, given His Majesty's affection for the Holy Maiden and the power of the Xue family.
Unfortunately, while he was waiting, the strange fire arrived first.
The falling snowflakes instantly transformed into sparks, and the red fish reflected in the boy's dark eyes also turned into clusters of flames, like the whispers of demons echoing in his ears.
Countless memories and images were forcibly transmitted into the depths of his mind.
The boy saw the world being devoured by strange fire, and saw five twisted figures in the flames.
When Xue Mushi collapsed to his knees due to the pressure, Tu Miaoyi, who had just come out of the astrology building, was running towards him with a smile. The girl called his name in a clear voice, but when she got closer, she saw his trembling eyes.
That winter, a strange fire descended upon him without warning.
“I was waiting for Miao Yi when it suddenly appeared. I don’t know why it was me,” Xue Mushi said in a low voice.
Yu Sui asked, "Your fiancée... your ex-fiancée also knew about your strange fire?"
Xue Mushi pursed his lips, not answering immediately.
Seeing his reaction, Yu Sui was already certain, but she continued to ask, "Did you tell her back then?"
Xue Mushi nodded silently.
At fourteen, he regarded Tu Miaoyi as the person he trusted most, and on the same day, he told her what had happened to him.
Even if he didn't say anything, Tu Miaoyi, being so intelligent, would have found out sooner or later.
They were too familiar and too intimate, so the effects of the strange fire on Xue Mushi could not be hidden from Tu Miaoyi.
Xue Mushi looked back at Yu Sui with some embarrassment and said slowly, "At that time, I didn't know how serious it was, and I trusted her the most, so I was shocked. How did you manage to hide it from a young age?"
Although he didn't give a direct answer, it was pretty much the answer.
Yu Sui blinked gently, her heartbeat and breathing seeming to slow down for a moment.
It turns out that Xue Mushi's situation was completely different from hers.
"Didn't she tell anyone?" Yu Sui asked.
Xue Mushi shook his head.
"She would keep reminding and warning me not to tell anyone, because it was too dangerous, not even my parents," Xue Mushi said with a wry smile. "Actually, the last people I could tell were my parents. For the sake of Taiyuan Kingdom, they wouldn't let me live."
Yu Sui listened in silence.
Xue Mushi's family was not as complicated as the Nangong Prince's Mansion, and he got along very well with his family members, respecting and loving each other.
But the most important thing in their hearts is still the Taiyuan Kingdom.
Even if that person is your own biological son, you may feel reluctant and in pain, but you still have to make a choice.
Xue Mushi didn't want them to be caught in a painful choice.
“The Strange Fire is very dangerous. So far, no power has been able to restrain or defeat it,” Xue Mushi said in a low voice. “It does indeed have the ability to destroy the Xuan Gu Continent. The World Destroyer who died once caused a lot of trouble for the six kingdoms and burned many people to death. But as long as the World Destroyer is dead, the Strange Fire will no longer continue to grow and spread. So the best way at present is to kill the World Destroyer who carries the Strange Fire.”
Yu Sui raised her eyelids slightly. Xue Mushi had the help of Tu Miaoyi, the saintess of the Yin-Yang School, so they could openly search for information related to strange fire, unlike her, who even had to sneak around to read a book related to the Nine Schools of Arts.
Tu Miaoyi has a noble status, and people will proactively inform her about the existence of the world-destroying being with different flames, a threat to the six kingdoms, so that she can always be vigilant and deal with it carefully.
"The old man you mentioned who died at Taiyi Academy five years ago was named Gao Tianhao. He was from Taiyuan Kingdom and was also a thirteenth-level sorcerer of the Ghost Dao School," Xue Mushi said, looking at Yu Sui. "He traveled to six kingdoms, gathering information related to the Strange Fire, and finally came to Taiyi."
"I heard that Gao Tianhao had a good relationship with the disciple of the Ghost Dao Saint, who is your senior brother, Mei Liangyu." Xue Mushi said slowly. "Later people speculated that Gao Tianhao used Mei Liangyu to get closer to his master, the Chang Gen Saint. In the end, the Chang Gen Saint exposed his identity as the Destroyer of the World, which led to the siege and killing by the twenty-four saints of Taiyi."
Yu Sui was slightly taken aback.
She truly didn't know these things.
She didn't even know that the old man Gao Tianhao and his senior brother Mei Liangyu had a good relationship.
They were unaware that Gao Tianhao's identity as the destroyer of the world was revealed by their master, Saint Changgen.
Yu Sui felt a chill run down her spine for a moment.
Her eyes flickered under the light of Zhou Tianhuo.
Xue Mushi felt it was necessary to tell Yu Sui these things.
Because she was a disciple of the Saint Changgen, she stayed day and night in the Ghost Path Sanctuary, beside a saint who could kill her at any moment.
People's attitudes towards Yu Sui will change depending on whether they know she has a different kind of fire or not.
They might not immediately kill Yu Sui, and they might compromise after struggling, but they would never stand on Yu Sui's side.
Xue Mushi believed that Yu Suicang's eighteen years had been filled with unimaginable hardships and difficulties, and that her desire to survive and not reveal her identity was even stronger than his own.
Yu Sui asked softly, "How did you know all this?"
Xue Mushi scratched his head: "Although we rarely hear about the Strange Fire anymore, the six kingdoms have always had organizations closely monitoring its existence. The life and deeds of every dead World Destroyer are thoroughly investigated."
"Especially those ninth-rate sorcerers who focus on 'national destiny,' also known as saints, protect countless lives on the Xuan Gu Continent. Before war, they also protect their own people and are very wary of world destroyers who possess strange fire."
"And the Destroyer should stay away from the sorcerers of the Fangji family the most." Xue Mushi said with a slightly serious expression, "There was once a saint of the Fangji family who could predict the existence of the Destroyer without any warning. That seemed to be the strongest saint of the Fangji family in hundreds of years, but in the end he also perished together with that Destroyer."
Only when the six kingdoms reach a consensus on the matter of the World Destroyer will they begin to cooperate.
Even the Yan Kingdom wouldn't want the destroyer to burn everything down with a single fire; there are still people there who hold onto hope.
If the Yan state were burned to ashes, the other five states would benefit. If all the Yan people in the world died, then the Yan state would truly cease to exist.
"Do you know who the others are?" Xue Mushi asked.
Yu Sui shook her head: "That's why I didn't say anything, precisely because I didn't know."
Xue Mushi couldn't help but recall the torture he had endured yesterday, and he couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his neck, feeling a chill run down his spine: "But I heard that hot-tempered man say that even if we don't make a sound, he can still sense our presence."
“Perhaps it’s because the time it takes for the Strange Fire to reselect its destroyers won’t exceed one year, which is why it can pinpoint the exact time. Or perhaps it’s because when it experiences the death resonance, it will definitely gather all five destroyers.” Yu Sui frowned and analyzed. “If it’s his personal ability, then we can only pray that he won’t be like the boy who died yesterday and tell others about the Strange Fire.”
"Thinking about it, what exactly did that person say yesterday?" Xue Mushi said dejectedly. "At least I hadn't heard of the concept of death empathy when I was inquiring about different flames before. Perhaps that's what he was revealing."
“If it’s a death sympathy, then it would reveal that the five destroyers can communicate with each other. Perhaps the conversation at that time…” Yu Sui suddenly recalled the words that the old man Gao Tianhao said before he died.
Gao Tianhao recounted his discoveries in Taiyi and told the other World Destroyers that if they wanted to remove the Strange Flame, they should come to Taiyi to find the Heavenly Character Script.
The boy who died yesterday doesn't necessarily need to understand these things; he only needs to tell the saints everything without missing a single word. As for the meaning behind it, there are plenty of people to guess.
Yu Sui told Xue Mushi what Gao Tianhao had said, and also frankly said, "I wanted to come to Taiyi before, but I never found the opportunity. Now that I'm in Taiyi, I really want to find the Heavenly Character that Gao Tianhao mentioned, and find a way to get rid of the Strange Fire."
Xue Mushi pursed his lips, gently rubbing his nose with his fingers. After hesitating for a moment, he finally asked, "Do you know about the Floating Pagoda?"
Yu Sui stared at him without blinking and whispered, "Can you lift the oath of non-war between the six kingdoms and the Pagoda?"
Although it's unclear what the connection is between the Floating Pagoda and the Strange Fire, Xue Mushi's words suggest there must be some kind of connection.
Xue Mushi nodded. Since Yu Sui knew, he saved himself the trouble of explaining and went straight to the point: "The Pagoda of Floating Pagoda is scattered into seven pieces, hidden in different places. There is one piece in Taiyuan, and the Heavenly Character script that Gao Tianhao is looking for is hidden in the Pagoda of Floating Pagoda."
Yu Sui blinked, her first thought being: "Doesn't Gao Tianhao know about the existence of the Floating Pagoda?"
“He probably doesn’t know,” Xue Mushi said, puzzled. “If Gao Tianhao knew the relationship between the Floating Pagoda and the Heavenly Script, he would have explained it directly. But he only told you about the Heavenly Script. Moreover, the matter of the Floating Pagoda is indeed a secret. If word gets out that he wants to break the oath of non-war, there will be plenty of people who will try to stop him.”
If the Pagoda is not associated with the Heavenly Character, then it belongs to the struggle between the six kingdoms.
Yu Sui asked him, "Have you seen the fragments of the Pagoda?"
Xue Mushi nodded, gesturing with his hands as if trying to give Yu Sui a concrete demonstration: "I've seen it. It's like a floating star. When you see it, you get a very strange feeling, like... a sense of tranquility and peace. It can stabilize your emotions and power. After my emotions stabilize, I won't be burned by the strange fire at night."
Yu Sui's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.
What's the meaning.
She slowly sat up straight and slightly opened her eyes to look at Xue Mushi.
It was already dark, the time of night, yet the strange fire was still scorching her skin.
"Is the burning sensation of the strange fire after nightfall related to personal emotions?" Yu Sui asked softly.
“I’ve done the experiment, and it’s true. Two years ago, I was emotionally unstable because of the existence of the strange fire, and I would sometimes have extreme thoughts. At that time, I would be burned by the strange fire every night until I calmed down and it subsided.”
Xue Mushi said honestly, "I have read records about the World Destroyers. Many World Destroyers are bewitched by the Strange Fire and use it, but once they use the Strange Fire, they will be devoured and die by it."
"If one resonates with the emotions of the strange fire and desires to destroy the world, the longer one will be burned by the strange fire."
Yu Sui tucked her hands into her sleeves, her fingers curled up. As she lowered her head, a strand of hair slipped down her temple, which she quickly tucked behind her ear. She chuckled softly, "So that's how it is."
For so many years, her emotions have been hovering on the brink of collapse.
The strange fire sensed this as well, so it tried its best to bewitch her.
For the strange fire, it was just a hair's breadth away from causing Yu Sui to collapse and thus destroy the world.
[Author's Note]
Sui Sui: Just a tiny difference
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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